Divorce Attorneys Need to Avoid This 1 SBA Loan Pitfall
A settlement or judgement in a divorce does not absolve your client of liability on a defaulted SBA loan. Don't leave your client on the hook.
Financial institution officers and a bank consumer had been charged inside the Chicago area Tuesday with fraud for submitting a false loan application to the SBA (SBA) for nearly $4 million.
James Graber and Kristin King, along side Ryan Cole of Garland, Texas, were charged by a federal grand jury in Rockford with wire fraud in reference to a mortgage application made to the SBA.
Authorities charged Cole with counts of making false statements to the SBA on a loan application, Graber and King have been each charged with one be count.
The case centers around SunLee Development, which owned a industrial building at 4001 North Perryville Rd., in Loves Park, Illinois. SunLee acquired three loans totaling greater than $3 million at a nearby financial institution in which Graber, 57, was employed as a vice president and King, forty four, was also employed as a VP and government guaranteed lending specialist. Cole, 45, and a member of SunLee, guaranteed the three loans and therefore was liable in the event of default.
SunLee fell behind on its loan because of tenants at 4001 North Perryville failure to pay rent. The indictment alleges that Cole helped tenants at 4001 North Perryville to apply for an SBA guaranteed loan and to purchase the building from SunLee. The tenants and Cole are known as the Perryville Investment Group.
The indictment states that in March of 2012, Cole, Graber and King submitted a $3.98 million loan application to the SBA for the Perryville Investment Group that contained false statements and hid material statistics. The Perryville Investment Group subsequently defaulted on the SBA loan.
Each count of wire fraud, making false statements and concealing material facts to the SBA comes with a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
If you have defaulted on an SBA loan, you may be eligible for an SBA loan offer in compromise. The SBA loan offer in compromise may allow you to settle the debt for less than the full amount. Contact Protect Law Group at 1-888-756-9969 today for a consultation with a qualified SBA workout attorney.
Millions of Dollars in SBA Debts Resolved via Offer in Compromise and Negotiated Repayment Agreements without our Clients filing for Bankruptcy or Facing Home Foreclosure
Millions of Dollars in Treasury Debts Defended Against via AWG Hearings, Treasury Offset Program Resolution, Cross-servicing Disputes, Private Collection Agency Representation, Compromise Offers and Negotiated Repayment Agreements
Our Attorneys are Authorized by the Agency Practice Act to Represent Federal Debtors Nationwide before the SBA, The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
Clients personally guaranteed SBA 504 loan balance of $750,000. Clients also pledged the business’s equipment/inventory and their home as additional collateral. Clients had agreed to a voluntary sale of their home to pay down the balance. We intervened and rejected the proposed home sale. Instead, we negotiated an acceptable term repayment agreement and release of lien on the home.
The client personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan for $150,000. His business revenue decreased significantly causing default and an accelerated balance of $143,000. The client received the SBA's Official 60-day notice with the debt scheduled for referral to the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service for aggressive collection in less than 26 days. We were hired to represent him, respond to the SBA's Official 60-day notice, and prevent enforced collection by the Treasury and the Department of Justice. We successfully negotiated a structured workout with an extended maturity date that included a reduction of the 14% interest rate and removal of substantial collection fees (30% of the loan balance), effectively saving the client over $242,000.
Client personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan for $100,000 from the lender. The SBA loan went into early default in 2006 less than 12 months from disbursement. The SBA paid the 7(a) guaranty monies to the lender and subsequently acquired the deficiency balance of about $96,000, including the right to collect against the guarantor. However, the SBA sent the Official 60-Day Due Process Notice to the Client's defunct business address instead of his personal residence, which he never received. As a result, the debt was transferred to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service where substantial collection fees were assessed, including accrued interest per the promissory note. Treasury eventually referred the debt to a Private Collection Agency (PCA) - Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc. Pioneer sent a demand letter claiming a debt balance of almost $310,000 - a shocking 223% increase from the original loan amount assigned to the SBA. Client's social security disability benefits were seized through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). Client hired the Firm to represent him as the debt continued to snowball despite seizure of his social security benefits and federal tax refunds as the involuntary payments were first applied to Treasury's collection fees, then to accrued interest with minimal allocation to the SBA principal balance.
We initially submitted a Cross-Servicing Dispute (CSD) challenging the referral of the debt to Treasury based on the defective notice sent to the defunct business address. Despite overwhelming evidence proving a violation of the Client's Due Process rights, the SBA still rejected the CSD. As a result, an Appeals Petition was filed with the SBA Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) Court challenging the SBA decision and its certification the debt was legally enforceable in the amount claimed. After several months of litigation before the SBA OHA Court, our Firm Attorney successfully negotiated an Offer in Compromise (OIC) Term Workout with the SBA Supervising Trial Attorney for $82,000 spread over a term of 74 months at a significantly reduced interest rate saving the Client an estimated $241,000 in Treasury collection fees, accrued interest (contract interest rate and Current Value of Funds Rate (CVFR)), and the PCA contingency fee.
.jpg)
